Re: [Chicken-hackers] too many core modules?

[John Cowan]

felix winkelmann scripsit:

> Actual use and what I see in the code of others suggests to me that
> every non-trivial application ends up with using nearly all units. I am a
> friend of modularization, but not modularization for modularizations'
> sake.

I suspect, though, that they use all units because it's easier to include
them all than because they are all needed.  Eggs in particular ought
to be selective, in my opinion, to reduce dependencies.  After all,
there is really no principled reason for any particular bit to be a unit
rather than an egg....

> What I like is convenience: banging together code for quick jobs with
> as little effort as possible.

I agree, which is why I support the idea of a compound unit.  Convenience
isn't always the predominant concern, though, especially when it comes
to deployment, particularly deployment as C source (regrettable though
that is).

> The core libraries are not small, but not really that big, as compared
> to, say, Common Lisp.

If I wanted CL, I'd know where to find it.  And comparing Chicken's
core to The Library The Size Of Mount Everest is hardly fair.  Even R6RS
looks good compared to CL.

> I wonder how this "helps". It just increases the mental effort to
> scrape together the necessary import statements.

If you don't want to bother, use (use extras) or (use utilities) instead.
I don't want to take away a facility, but to add one.  Besides, someone
could write a tool that, given a set of import libraries and source code,
figures out what to import and generates the import statements.

> > How about "roaster" (a U.S. term for a large chicken suitable for
> > roasting, typically over 2 kg)?
> 
> You're not serious...

Well, no; and it's lame to explain a joke, I know.  But considering the
international audience, I figured I had to explain.

"utilities" would suit me as a name.

-- 
John Cowan    address@hidden    http://ccil.org/~cowan
Heckler: "Go on, Al, tell 'em all you know.  It won't take long."
Al Smith: "I'll tell 'em all we *both* know.  It won't take any longer."